Who: Owen and Juliet Where: the mysterious basement level! When: early evening
Juliet was intrigued by the new space that had been opened up to them. Ever since she’d left from there the first time, she’d wanted to go back. That pool looked fantastic, and there were games, and a bar. How many other levels might open up to them? While she hadn’t been crazy about the early-morning awakening, getting something new to do here was a bonus.
She knew she should be working on her various projects and long-term games with people, but somehow today she wasn’t in the mood. Maybe it was missing sleep. She’d gone back to her room and napped for a while, but it hadn’t helped as much as it should have. Today felt off. Maybe it was all those damn birds all over. She’d had a rare stroke of good fortune that her window hadn’t broken, but she’d ventured outside and seen that they were all over the place from where they’d suicidally battered themselves into the walls of the house. Ugh.
After an early dinner and giving herself a pedicure, Juliet decided to go back downstairs and check things out in a more leisurely way. She was wearing a bikini under her shirt and jeans and she carried a towel in case she decided to get into the pool… which honestly was a very appealing prospect. After the elevator ride down-- which again seemed to take much longer than it should have-- she went immediately to the bar, set her towel down on one of the chairs and started making herself a drink.
Out of everything They had provided them in the basement area - could they even call this a basement? It just felt like a lower level of the house, but not at all basement-y - Owen was most fond of the pool. He didn't mind the one outside, but the weather was a bit too brisk now to really enjoy it, not to mention the fact that a bunch of dead birds had been floating in the thing earlier that morning. It would need emptied and cleaned, and now that was the house responsibility. Owen wasn't sure who would be up for the task, and really, why bother now with winter closing in?
But an indoor pool was worth the long elevator ride. It meant he could swim laps and get some additional exercise. So after an early dinner, Owen had taken the elevator downstairs, wearing a pair of swim trunks he'd taken from Cassi's a couple weeks ago but had never really thought he'd use. He swam several laps, until his muscles ached in a rather satisfying way. When he decided he needed a break, Owen climbed out of the pool and walked over to the hot tub. It took him a moment to mess with the buttons, but once it turned on, he sunk into the hot water with a sigh, thankful for the quiet. So far, this new area of the house wasn't so bad.
After a minute or so, he thought he heard someone in the main room just outside the pool room, but he didn't see anyone moving about yet. If someone was checking the place out, all Owen could do was hope it was someone he could tolerate.
Juliet made short work of making herself a fabulous margarita and then grabbed her towel again. Her ears had picked up the sound of a hot tub’s jets coming on, and she thought she might as well see who it was. She didn’t have shoes on, because why cover up a lovely pedicure? Thus she didn’t make any sound walking into the expansive room where the pool and hot tub were. She was pleasantly surprised to find out that Owen was the hot tub user. He was super hot and she found him interesting, probably because it didn’t seem that he said much. The stoic ones were fun. “Hey,” she said once she’d gotten close enough, giving him a smile. “This place is fantastic, isn’t it?” She tossed her towel down and sipped from her glass, glad she’d come prepared to get into water, whether it was the pool or the hot tub.
Owen had gotten comfortable in the water, arms stretched out along the edge behind him. When Juliet walked into the room, it took Owen a split second to remember her name. All he could think of was Nightie Girl from the morning. But then her actual name clicked in her memory. She wasn't someone he had spoken with much, or at all, really. But that wasn't unusual, given it was Owen. And really, under any other circumstances, he might have grunted a response, or decided he was finished with the hot tub just to grab his towel and retreat back to his room upstairs, but Owen was feeling... oddly okay with the company. Was it the lack of sleep from earlier? Or the somberness of having to clean dead birds from his room that afternoon? He wasn't really sure, and he couldn't quite put his finger on why he decided to stay where he was.
"I don't know if fantastic is the right word," Owen said dryly. "But it's all right, yeah. I guess it could have been worse."
Juliet was feeling surprisingly good herself. Sometimes she dwelled on what she considered to be her failures, although most of the time she didn’t tend to take responsibility for things going wrong. Still, it irked her to not meet goals she set for herself. Right now she felt very free of all that and quite happy. Some of that happiness might have come from the quality of the chest, biceps and abs she was viewing right now, but why quibble? “C’mon,” she said, a tiny smirk on her lips. “Look at this room. I like the ceiling especially.” She’d emptied two thirds of her glass and she knelt to place it on the floor next to the tub. “May I join you?” she asked. “I promise I won’t be annoying. We can be quiet if you like.”
Owen glanced up at the ceiling, designed to look like the night sky. It was nice. Cozy, certainly. Owen didn't usually pay much attention to cozy details. When she asked if she could join him, Owen brought his eyes back to hers. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have some human interaction in this place that didn't involve Cecilia. She was really the only person he felt comfortable enough talking to on a personal level, but if he was there for the long haul, however long that might be, Owen figured it was probably in his best interest to at least attempt to talk to some of the other housemates.
"Yeah, sure," he said before cocking a brow. "I'm not worried about being annoyed. Now if someone like Pam walks in the room, that might change." Maybe that was a shitty thing to say, but he'd said it, and he felt okay with it.
Oh good, some snark. Juliet always felt more comfortable with those who at least knew how to be snarky even if they didn’t employ it often. “I don’t think we’ll need to worry about her,” she said, her smile serene but a spark of mischief in her eyes. “She’s undoubtedly doctoring injured birds as we speak.” She unbuttoned her shirt and slipped out of it, then casually discarded her jeans, leaving herself clad in one of the black bikinis she’d found at Cassi’s. One could never have too many black bikinis. She took a few seconds to tie her long red hair into a messy knot on her head-- of course giving Owen enough time to check her out if he wanted-- then climbed carefully in, seating herself next to him. “This is the best,” was her comment.
Nightie Girl then became Bikini Girl, and even though Owen averted his eyes while she undressed, for the most part, he did allow himself a glance or two until she climbed into the water. He wasn't a creep, but he wasn't completely dead either, and it had been a long month in this place. A lonely one, from time to time. Still, Owen had expected her to sit across from him, so he drew his arms in when she sat beside him, dipping them beneath the water. If he had been home, and this hadn't been Zenith, there was no doubt Owen would have already hit on her. But these circumstances were... different. For a variety of reasons. That didn't mean he couldn’t appreciate a beautiful woman in a bikini sharing a hot tub with him, however. Vaguely, he wondered what Cecilia would look like in a two piece, then pushed the thought aside. Owen didn't want to be that guy.
Owen focused on the bubbling water relaxing him, determined to make some semblance of conversation with Bikini Gi... Juliet. "The majority of the birds are dead, or they're going to die. I'm not sure what she can do for them, and I really hope she didn't plan on keeping them in the house. Still, her heart's in the right place. I guess if she needs something to focus on..." Owen shrugged softly in the water. Pam could be annoying, but he still believed she was essentially harmless.
Juliet rested her head against the headrest, pleased by the feel of the warm water bubbling all around her. It was somehow sensual, pleasurable, fully enjoyable. “She might,” she said of keeping birds in the house. “She has the octopus in her bathroom.” Her tone was mild; she really didn’t mind Pam. “We fed it shrimp the other day. It was entertaining.” She tilted her head to smile over at Owen. Damn, he was hot. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t noticed before, but somehow that effect was intensified with him sitting right next to her, half naked. She felt warmer than she should be even while in a hot tub.
Owen couldn't help but wrinkle his nose a bit at the mental image of someone feeding that octopus shrimp. But he wondered if Pam had taken into consideration his suggestion of building the thing a tank. It couldn't live forever, and certainly not in a bathtub. "I guess you have to stay entertained somehow," Owen mused. "I mean, think about it for a minute. Did you ever really believe you would be able to tell someone that you fed shrimp to an octopus? That's what our lives have become now." And for some reason, Owen found that incredibly amusing. He shook his head and laughed from deep in his chest. Finally, he was finding humor in their situation rather than cynicism and anger. It was progress, he guessed.
Juliet was mildly surprised. From what she’d observed of Owen, she hadn’t expected him to be this much fun to hang out with. He seemed so cranky and stoic most of the time, except when he was hanging out with Cecilia of course. She laughed too, idly using one hand to splash water over her neck and chest. “That definitely wasn’t an experience I thought I’d ever have,” she agreed. “I mean, I like animals. But an octopus? They’re really not the cuddly pet kind of critter.” She’d had quite a few experiences most people hadn’t had, and it seemed this place was going to add to them.
Owen was generally cranky and stoic, and he did feel kind of off laughing over something so ridiculous, but maybe it was necessary. What else was he supposed to do right now? "Yeah, well," Owen began once his laughter trailed off. "I doubt you're ever going to find cuddly critters here." Unless she counted Neptune, which Owen didn't, because Neptune was Cecilia's. Probably the same way Hathaway was Pam's. It was a bizarre contrast between the two, both women and pets. "I have to say, you're probably one of the only people willing to go near that thing, though, so..." Owen shrugged. "You and Pam friends?"
“You’re probably right,” Juliet said, sounding amused in a resigned kind of way. “What’s a girl to do?” Hopefully more than she’d done thus far now that she’d had her birth control shot renewed and had access to condoms. But anyway. She sat up straighter, pulling one knee to her chest, foot resting on the seat. “I wouldn’t say we’re close, but we’ve hung out,” she said of Pam. “I didn’t want to be one of the people who doesn’t treat her well, so I sought her out one day. It was nice.” The more allies, the better. Juliet’s head was always in the game, even right now when she felt much more carefree than usual for some reason.
Owen nodded, wondering if he was someone who didn't treat Pam well. Probably, but Owen didn't treat many people well. He wasn't malicious, he just didn't have a lot of patience for people anymore, or his situation. At the moment, though, Owen was feeling pretty... social. Otherwise he would have left Juliet to the hot tub by now. And yes, he found it odd that he was willing to stick around and talk to a virtual stranger. It wasn't so bad. Juliet wasn't annoying, and she was easy on the eyes. It could have been worse. "She's all right," Owen said belatedly, then looked over at Juliet. "Pam, I mean. Most people here are all right. Tolerable, anyway." Even Oliver, who Owen wasn't too fond of, though he felt like that had more to do with Oliver's Protector-stance over Cecilia. The thought prompted a quick scowl and he looked away, toward the pool. Well that was an abrupt shift of his mood.
“I think we could have done much worse,” Juliet said affably. She noticed how Owen’s expression suddenly changed and she wondered who he was thinking about. Marco, maybe? There was no way to really know. Carefully, she lowered the leg she’d propped on the seat and, beneath the water, tugged her strapless top down very slightly. Wow, she had a great rack. Too bad more people in the house didn’t seem to appreciate it. After a few moments of silence and Juliet gazing up at the ceiling, which fascinated her for some reason, she turned her face back in Owen’s direction. “You okay?” she asked, placing one hand on his bicep. It was a work of art, it really, truly was.
It was irritating how quickly the thought of Oliver shifted Owen's mood downward. And on some level, Owen knew his attitude toward the other guy was unfair and unwarranted. Oliver was a decent guy whose only helped out where and when he could. And it was really none of Owen's business if Oliver and Cecilia became close. Owen didn't have a monopoly on her time, or even her friendship. And now he was irritated by the fact that he was irritated. The touch on his arm drew him back from his sour thoughts, and Owen glanced down at the hand before looking at Juliet. "I'm fine," he told her simply. Complaining about something so trivial to someone he barely knew seemed like a bad idea. And it wasn't his style. Still, it probably wasn't the worst thing in the world to force himself to get to know a couple more people. He liked Chase all right, and even Marco, when the guy wasn't fucking up. Juliet seemed like a decent person - she had to be if she could handle Pam - so Owen resisted the urge to shake her touch away. He forced a faint smile instead. "I tend to look unhappy when I think about being stuck in this place."
It was very reluctantly that Juliet removed her hand from Owen’s arm. He still looked a bit pissed, so it probably wasn’t the time to try to press an advantage. “I understand,” she said, suddenly beginning to feel mopey. Why was she having such a run of bad luck with the guys here? There was Damon, but he didn’t count because he’d fuck anything; she highly doubted there was a person here he’d say no to. Marco was so stunted in that respect that she could probably present herself to him like Venus on the half shell and he’d run screaming. Unless she was Juno. What the fuck ever. The very promising and attractive Chase had hooked up with Kiley already. And now despite being here in a hot tub while wearing a skimpy bikini, Owen didn’t seem that interested either. She looked away, actual tears gathering in her eyes. What was wrong with her?
“You may not believe it,” she said, her voice very low. “But there are worse places than here.”
"Are there?" Owen asked, noting the tone of Juliet's voice, and the way she looked away. His first assumption was that he'd said or done something to upset her, since that seemed to be the Owen-way. Back home, he really didn't care if he pissed off a woman by his demeanor. It was what it was, and he was who he was. Hell, even here, Owen really didn't care. But the difference, he was finding, was that he couldn't leave this place. He was stuck here, and would see these people more or less every day until they were let go, or dead. "Where would those places be?" There was no challenge in his voice, just genuine curiosity.
“Places where you don’t have any freedom, and your every move is watched.” Suddenly Juliet laughed, but there was no genuine humor in the sound, only a sardonic sort of bitterness. “I know you’ll say that sounds like here.” But there’d been no hot tubs in jail, no clothing stores with anything you could want, no people to manipulate. Not really. One could try, but there was only so much it was possible to accomplish in jail with guards everywhere. At least here the guards gave them tools with which to work, like the cameras and privileged information. She blinked, leaving moisture caught in her lashes, then turned her head to look at Owen again. “This is not the worst place I’ve been,” she said simply. “I think that’s all I want to say until I know you better.” She managed a smile, but it was a bedraggled one. Ugh, time to get herself out of this random bad mood. Juliet wasn’t usually mood-swingy, and when she was she could generally hide it well.
Owen felt a punch of uneasiness in his gut at the sight of the tears lingering in her eyes. He really didn’t do well with emotional women, and he supposed he was lucky that she wasn’t sobbing. It wasn’t that he didn’t care if a woman got upset around him, it was that he didn’t know what to do, or say. Once upon a time Owen had been pretty adept at comforting people. Not so much anymore. He was curious as to what Juliet could have been talking about. Logically, it sounded like she meant prison. Actual prison, but… well, he couldn’t say she didn’t seem like the type, because that wouldn’t have made any sense. Beautiful women could still be criminals. He nearly asked, but decided against it. It was none of his business, and Owen knew what it was like to have people prying into his personal life when he didn’t want to talk about it. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” Owen told her, shifting slightly in the hot tub.
Juliet was not an emotional woman, unless it was a situation she’d contrived. She wasn’t above using tears to manipulate-- in fact, it was one of her specialties-- but she hadn’t been trying to do that this time. She was a bit horrified that the conversation had swung so quickly out of control and that she’d even hinted at where she’d been before here. “No, you’re fine,” she said, determined to shake this off. “I think the lack of sleep must be catching up with me. Nothing like waking up at 4 a.m. to utter chaos.” She smiled again, this one more cheerful and natural-looking. There, that was it.
His brows were raised as he listened to her explanation. Lack of sleep was a pretty lame excuse for being emotional, but he couldn’t blame her for not wanting to tell him the truth. They barely knew each other. Still, Owen couldn’t help but notice how pretty her eyes were when they were glistening with repressed tears. It was an odd thing to think about in the moment, and on some level, he knew that. But he also knew that his body was very aware of her, and the water and her skimpy bikini. Was he so callous that his mood could shift so quickly from concern to uneasiness to arousal? Owen wondered if he ought to just excuse himself and head back upstairs, just to salvage the evening. Knowing him, he’d soon say something shitty and ruin her evening. “I get it,” Owen said. “I wish they’d save the utter chaos for mid-afternoon, though. I’d like to get at least eight hours of sleep before dealing with their bullshit, you know?”
He was such a gorgeous man, Juliet thought. This was not the sort of man around whom one behaved like a weepy idiot. She drew upon her years of experience controlling situations to get herself back into the demeanor she wanted to show. “Sometimes eight hours isn’t enough for this level of bullshit,” she said, laughing softly. Sighing, she settled her head back against the cushion again, chin tipped back, the position showcasing her chest and the clingy effect of the wet strapless bikini top she wore. She looked to be relaxing, but at the same time, she was tuned in to Owen and what his reactions to her might be.
She had a point there, and Owen nearly said so, but his attention was drawn back to her chest. He wasn't an idiot, and it was clear that Juliet wasn't either. Owen was betting that if he made a pass at her, she would accept it. He didn't blame anyone in this house for seeking physical comfort if it was being given, and Owen was feeling just selfish enough to apply that justification to himself. But... something held him back. And Owen knew he would be probably kicking himself for it later, once he realized just how long it had been for him without sex. "I think I'm going to head upstairs for some food," Owen said after a moment of debate. He hesitated then asked, "Do you want to come with me?" He wasn't sure it was the smartest thing, leaving her down here alone, although he was sure she could handle herself.
Well, this was about what she’d expected, Juliet thought. Normally she would have indulged herself in quite a fit of pique after he’d left, but she felt just laid back enough to let it go and even be pleasant. “Thank you, but I’m not ready to get out yet,” she said. “Maybe another time?” She’d definitely enjoy hanging out with him again, and maybe she’d even be able to interest him in more than hanging out. As it was, she knew she had a ready source of dick if she wanted it, even though there was no challenge in it.
“Yeah, definitely,” Owen said, moving away to climb out of the hot tub. He grabbed his towel to dry off, eyes darting to Juliet every few moments. It was hard not to look, and why should he? He wasn’t leering, and she was a beautiful woman. That was something Owen was starting to notice about Zenith. The women were attractive. Or maybe it had just been a month or so since he’d allowed himself to notice. In any case, Owen felt like it was better to remove himself before he said or did something stupid. “Thanks for the company,” he added belatedly, slipping the towel around his waist.
Juliet could feel his gaze on her, and that helped her feel better about not getting further with him. Whatever his reason for not going for it, it wasn’t because he didn’t find her attractive. That was nice to know. “Thank you,” she said, smiling at him before tipping her head back to contemplate the ceiling again. “It was fun.” Yes, she was absolutely a fan of the new addition down here.